Daughter of Publix Founder Gives $800,000 to Fight Pot Initiative

Article by CBS WESH 2 News.

Preparing to again try to defeat a medical-marijuana ballot initiative, the Drug Free Florida Committee received an $800,000 contribution this month from the Carol Jenkins Barnett Family Trust, a newly filed financial disclosure shows.

Carol Jenkins Barnett is the daughter of Publix Super Markets founder George Jenkins. The trust also contributed $540,000 in 2014 to the Drug Free Florida Committee, which led successful efforts that year to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment that would have broadly legalized medical marijuana.

The group United for Care, which also is known as People United for Medical Marijuana, backed the 2014 initiative and has placed a similar measure on the November 2016 ballot.